Ten U.S. environment conservation groups sue government for mass shrinking National Monument in Utah

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Ten famous environment conservation organizations in the United States Monday filed a lawsuit to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, requiring to abolish President Donald Trump's decision to downsize a natural landscape preservation in the state of Utah.

After Trump issued a proclamation for the shrinking of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument when he visited there Monday, ten groups based in eight different states filed the lawsuit attacking the order as an abuse of power by the president.

Under the new design of Trump's administration, Grand Staircase-Escalante will be divided into three smaller units, while its total area will be halved from nearly 1.9 million acres (7,689 square km) to 997,490 acres (4,037 square km).

California-based non-profit law organization Earthjustice represented the groups.

According to the legal document provided by the organization dedicated to environmental issues, besides Trump, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and Director of the Bureau of Land Management Brian Steed were also listed as co-defendants.

The suit charged that the president violated the 1906 Antiquities Act and his decision not only "flouted 111 years of conservation history", but also "exceeds his authority under the Antiquities Act."

"The Act authorizes Presidents to create national monuments; it does not authorize Presidents to abolish them either in whole or in part, as President Trump's action attempts to do," the indictment reads, adding it "violated the separation of powers between Congress and the President and the 'take Care' clause of the U.S. Constitution."

"As a result of President Trump's action, federal public lands that had been protected for over 20 years...will now be open to harmful developments such as coal mining, new roads, off-highway vehicle abuse, and oil and gas drilling," the law document claimed as well.

The ten groups asked court in the indictment to invalidate the order and bar its implementation.

"The Trump administration's effort to sell out our public lands is deeply unpopular and goes against American values," Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, told Earthjustice Monday.

California-based Sierra Club, one of the ten groups filed the lawsuit Monday, is one of American's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization. It boasts having 3 million members.

"We will work to ensure our lands and waters remain open to the public and protected for future generations to explore and enjoy," said Brune. Enditem